YachtOnLine

The Turkish Phenomenon

Sun, 02 Jan 2011 23:00:00 GMT

While many nations are struggling with shrunken GDPs, some are riding the veritable crest of the economic wave. Turkey, for instance, will end 2010 with a 7 per cent increase in its GDP, a result that puts it in second position in the G20, just behind China. The tourist sector makes a huge contribution to the country’s economy and has itself experienced strong growth in the last few years. We caught up with the Republic of Turkey’s Minister for Culture and Tourism since 2007,...

Alex Thomson: a great adventure

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 23:00:00 GMT

Born gentlemen, even when they are sailing the world’s most difficult oceans in a race to beat a record. The Hugo Boss challenge in the Barcelona World Race is proof of this. At the helm of the Imoca 60, the most fashionable of the Spanish fleet, is the talented Alex Thomson, assisted by Andy Meiklejohn. On the eve of this non-stop around the world, Thomson found the time to convey his last-minute sensations. We are nearing the start of the Barcelona World Race. What are your feelings...

Middle-aged means quality Rio Yachts

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 23:00:00 GMT

Artisans and proud of it. “What makes the difference is knowing how to build up an all-round relationship with your customers based on consistency.” Piergiorgio Scarani’s recipe for success sounds simple but is anything but. Born into the business, his parents Luigi and Anna are two pioneers of the nautical business here in Italy. No one who knows anything about boats here could fail to recognise the Rio 310, an ABS craft that got Italians sailing in 1971 with the slogan...

Patrizio di Marco: elegance on the waves

Sun, 24 Oct 2010 22:00:00 GMT

Two icons of elegance. Two symbols of Made in Italy at its finest. And, of course, the sea. All the ingredients for a meaningful success story were in place. The first page in an adventure sure to thrill not only the fashion-conscious but also the yachting public was turned at Cannes when the first example of the Aquariva by Gucci was unveiled. The fruit of a creative collaboration between two extraordinary ambassadors of Italian style was revealed to the world in the shadow of the Palais de...

J. Craig Venter and his Sorcerer II expedition

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 22:00:00 GMT

From lackluster student in California to a multi-millionaire entrepreneur and one of the world’s premier scientists. The life of the 64-year-old biologist J. Craig Venter is truly the stuff of legends. Dr. Venter’s name hit international headlines in 2000 when, with the private company Celera Genomics, he was the first to publish the sequence and analysis of the human genome, beating out in the process the federally funded Human Genome Project. Just last May Venter announced...

Guido Falck and his Rolly Go

Sun, 03 Oct 2010 22:00:00 GMT

he sun shines high and bright in the sky over La Spezia. Guido Falck, the son of the late Milanese industrialist, effortlessly controls his yacht and reels off instructions to his crew. Amerigo Olivetti, grandson of the man whose name is linked to that of the typewriter, sniffs the wind. Adalberto Grossi watches their rivals and calls out the next moves. We are aboard Rolly Go, the 15.62-metre sloop designed by German Frers, built by Sangermani and raced by Giorgio Falck in the 1981 Whitbread...

Claudio Castellani, a hand from space

Wed, 29 Sep 2010 22:00:00 GMT

He and his throttleman Adriano Panatta roared to victory in the 2004 Powerboat P1 World Championship which he then followed up by finishing second in the Maxi Worlds in 2005 and 2006. The company he chairs, Intermatica, lends its name too to Andrea Pendibene’s Mini 6.50, winner of the Grand Prix of Italy 2010. Claudio Castellani is a man with a deep and abiding passion for the sea. “I was on a boat at five and did my first dive at 17. The sea is inside me at this stage. I...

Stefano Zaghis: This is my La Maddalena

Thu, 16 Sep 2010 22:00:00 GMT

“I accepted this challenge and I moved to La Maddalena because I was attracted by the historic changes the island is going through, having been a military enclave for the last 200 years. It now has the opportunity to map out its own future and give full vent to its tourist potential. This isn’t just a simple business operation, but a challenge to convert a whole community to a new way of life.” Stefano Zaghis, who quit a career in the railway industry for a whole new sector,...

The Rolex circuit? Its A Festival of Sail

Sun, 12 Sep 2010 22:00:00 GMT

When Gian Riccardo Marini, Rolex Italia’s CEO for the last decade, became involved in the world of sailing as part of his job, he found himself falling in love with a whole new sport. We caught up with this very busy man in Saint Tropez at the Giraglia Rolex Cup, one of the events that he finds most exciting and rewarding. Because, as he was quick to stress, it’s not just a regatta but a genuine “festival of sail” in its own right. You’ve met a lot of owners over...

Wetzels Brown, winning partners

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:00:00 GMT

Five years ago architect Rob Wetzels and interior designer Gillian Brown founded Wetzels Brown Partners, an Amsterdam-based design studio with no particular lingua franca: English, Dutch, Italian, German, a bit of Spanish, French and even a few local dialects are all spoken there. This is a multicultural team backed by the founders’ two decades of experience in the industry. They specialise in designing private environments such as homes, yachts and are thus well used to working with...

Ron Holland and his overwhelming love of the sea

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 22:00:00 GMT

I suppose it started when I begged my parents for a dinghy for my 7th birthday. I remember my father telling me that he’d got me a sailing boat. I burst into tears because I knew they tipped over. Sure enough, the first time my father took me out, we flipped over. I was dragged out of the water by a passing fisherman and taken back to the shore while my father righted the dinghy. At first, all I felt was the horror of being in the water, yelling for my mother. But then when I was back on...

Fabrizio Plessi, aesthetics on board

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 22:00:00 GMT

Artist Fabrizio Plessi is a man with a dream: “I want to design a yacht, with the help of a technician, of course. I know nothing about that side of things. I do believe though that there are certain stereotypes that need to be done away with. I would like to design a boat that’s different from anything that’s been built until now.” Plessi has a great love both of waves themselves and making them, literally and metaphorically. “You should always be stirring things...

Pommery told by Ilario Iannone

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 22:00:00 GMT

Perini Navi Cup was the first step. Then, a year later, it again took the stage at the launch of Exuma, the 50-metre yacht built by Picchiotti. It’s no accident – there’s a pretty robust link between the world of champagne, and Pommery, in particular, and megayachts. It’s a comeback in grand style for a brand that’s long been a symbol of excellence, and has now found a successful course to follow. Like all challenges, this one has a name – Ilario Iannone. The...

Paolo Vitelli: crisis management? Daring to dream

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 22:00:00 GMT

Twenty-five yachts sailed into Cannes’ Port Canto for the fourth edition of the Yachting Gala: a fitting testament indeed to the Azimut-Benetti Group’s determination to get moving again. First with the new Azimut 64, a motoryacht that slots right into one of the competitive segments in the market by innovating tradition with beautifully laid out bright, airy spaces. And then plans to build a major new boatyard at Itajaì in Brazil. That facility will include a covered area of...

Lanfranco Cirillo, going with the wind

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 22:00:00 GMT

Strange to say it but Lanfranco Cirillo went into sailing on his doctor’s orders: “I went for a check-up and my doctor told me I was fine but then asked me what I’d been doing. I realised all I’d done was work 15-hour days and hadn’t done very much for myself. So I decided to do it. My gardener was a sailing enthusiast so…” When did you discover the sea? I never went to the seaside as a kid. Just the mountains. After the doctor asked me that fateful...

Fabrizio Plessi: Making waves

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 22:00:00 GMT

Don’t make waves is an old Venetian saying. “It means leave things as they are. But I always want to make waves. Those waves sweep away the banality of our everyday lives. You can’t live without making waves. You need to churn up the waters.” Fabrizio Plessi has been doing just that since 1968. He was born in Reggio Emilia in 1940, he arrived in Venice at just 15 to study art at high school level. He fell in love with the city that now houses his gallery: “I love...

Pietro Beccari: A full-court player

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 22:00:00 GMT

Pietro Beccari, Louis Vuitton’s Senior Vice-President of Communications and Marketing, joined the French company in 2006 after a career with high-profile multinationals the likes of Benckiser, Parmalat and Henkel. He was also a very good footballer (trained by Arrigo Sacchi), a fact that helped him bring together Pelè, Maradona and Zidane for Louis Vuitton’s World Cup ad campaign. Boats, however, are a relatively new discovery for the 42-year-old. “I’m really...

Yves Carcelle: just where we belong

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 22:00:00 GMT

“It was a great sportsman-like gesture. The signal that one period is most definitely over and that we’ve returned to the true spirit of big sailing.” Yves Carcelle, Chairman and CEO of Louis Vuitton since 2002, smiles broadly as he remembers how Emirates Team New Zealand won the Louis Vuitton Trophy on the water rather than on points, by beating the Russians of Synergy 3 to 2 at La Maddalena. He’s delighted too by the news on the final day of the Trophy that he’d...

Vittorio Moretti, architect of poetry

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 22:00:00 GMT

Vittorio Moretti is a qualified master mason and he’s proud of it. Getting that qualification marked the start of the extraordinary adventure that led to his founding a group that now has interests in the industrial building, pleasure boat building, wine-making, hotels and quality restaurants sectors. Beauty, however, is a factor in everything that Moretti does. “Beauty is whatever makes you feel good so it’s a highly individual thing,” explains the 69 year old....

Loris Capirossi, motorcycling on water

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 22:00:00 GMT

A child who dreamed about motorbikes and speed. A young lad who sweated, strained and risked his neck. A grown man who became a champion, won the world title three times, has competed in over 300 races, and never ceases to amaze. Loris Capirossi’s story is a mix of adventure and simplicity. We met the world champion at the Yacht Club de Monaco as he took delivery of his new yacht, a Mochi Craft, Long Range 23. You’re the king of speed. We’d have expected to find you aboard a...

The Conran Studio goes on water

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 22:00:00 GMT

When an established yard wants to revamp its image, choosing a studio that’s totally new to the sector is a daring tactic. However, the risks are reduced when the studio is a member of the international design aristocracy. That’s the background to the relationship between Sealine and Sir Terence Conran. The man behind the Habitat chain had never designed a yacht’s interiors, but for Sealine’s new T60 the Studio Conran, the Industrial Design, Branding and Graphics...

Diego Bertani, on route towards Europe

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 22:00:00 GMT

The first stage of the Audi Melges 32 Sailing Series played out recently at Lerici with Fantasticaa, the Melges 32 owned by Lanfranco Cirillo with Michele Paoletti calling tactics, emerging very much as the superior contestant. She ended the series with a serious advantage over her rivals with a points average of under two. However, the real protagonist of the round (and the ones to follow, including Scarlino, Cagliari, Porto Cervo and Malcesine) both on and off the water was the Swiss-based...

Françoise Moitessier, I found freedom on the sea

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 22:00:00 GMT

At first glance it just doesn’t seem possible that this tiny, fragile-looking woman could possibly have sailed single-handed for almost 15,000 miles, but then you look in her eyes and you know that not only did she do it but she’d do it again in a heartbeat were it not for the aches in her knees. We met the entrancing Madame Moitessier at Lerici where she was launching her book, 60,000 Miles of Sailing: Bernard, Myself and the Sea (Mursia). You were one of the few people, and...

Jonas Ottoson: Peak Performance on a new way

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 22:00:00 GMT

Okay, so the last America’s Cup was defended by the Swiss. Yes, a team from an Alpine rather than a maritime nation managed to bring the Auld Mug back to Europe after a 159-year absence. The official apparel for the 33rd edition was also supplied by Peak Performance, a Swedish brand whose name alone suggests a predilection more for mountaineering than sailing making it the perfect symbol of this at times nonsensical-seeming Cup. The fact too that its website is awash with skiers,...

Carlo Conti, the Seagull fisherman

Wed, 26 May 2010 22:00:00 GMT

The kind of guy who really does live the sea up close and personal, and needs the feel of salt on his skin. “It’s like a drug,” he jokes. “And you can see how totally addicted I am to both sun and sea from the state of my skin.” We meet on a hot, humid day. The echoes of a just-finished storm are all around but the sun is shining with all its splendour. We introduce ourselves and get aboard the new 58 Eastport from Abati Yachts. “Oh, the flying bridge....